NIFL Premiership
Northern Ireland | confed = UEFA | founded = 2008 | folded = | divisions = | teams = 12 | feeds = | promotion = | relegation = NIFL Championship 1 | nationalitylevel = Northern Irish | levels = 1 | domest_cup = Irish Cup NIFL Charity Shield | confed_cup = UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League Setanta Sports Cup | champions = Linfield | season = 2018–19 | most_successful_club = Linfield | tv = Sky Sports BBC Sport | current = 2018–19 | website = http://nifootballleague.com/ }} The Northern Ireland Football League Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football League – the national league in Northern Ireland. It was formerly called the IFA Premiership until 2013, with previous competition formats called the Irish Premier League, Irish Football League Premier Division, and before that simply the Irish Football League. Still known in popular parlance simply as the Irish League, the Premiership was established in 2008 under the auspices of the Irish Football Association before the Northern Ireland Football League was created for the start of the 2013–14 season. At the end of the season, the champion club is presented with the Gibson Cup. Linfield are the current champions, lifting the league title for a record 53rd time. The title win was confirmed on 13 April 2019, following a 0–0 draw at home against the outgoing champions, Crusaders, which left them 12 points clear with three games remaining. Origin The current Premiership format was introduced for the 2008–09 season after the League system for Northern Ireland was re-organised. The top flight was reduced in size from 16 to 12 clubs, included on the basis not only of their performance in the 2007–08 season, but in the previous two seasons, and other off-the-field criteria. Each applicant club was assessed by an independent panel and awarded points against the following criteria: *''Sporting'' (maximum 450 points) – based on league placings, Irish Cup, League Cup and European performances in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08; with points also awarded for running youth teams, women's teams and community development programmes *''Finance'' (maximum 200 points) – based on solvency, debt management and cash-flow projection *''Infrastructure'' (maximum 150 points) – based on stadium capacity, changing provisions, sanitary facilities, field of play, floodlighting, existence and standard of control room, first aid room, drug testing room and media facilities *''Personnel'' (maximum 100 points) – based on qualification and experience of staff *''Business planning'' (maximum 50 points) *''Attendances'' (maximum 50 points) Portadown were the highest-profile casualty of the new system, suffering relegation to the newly formed IFA Championship as a result of submitting their application for inclusion in the Premiership 29 minutes past the deadline for consideration. The Premiership remained under IFA control for five seasons until the creation of the Northern Ireland Football League in 2013, when it became the NIFL Premiership. 2018–19 membership External links * Northern Ireland Football League website * NI Football Daily Website * Irish Football Club Project * Irish FA Website * Irish League Forums * BBC Irish Football * nifootball.co.uk * rsssf.com: Northern Ireland - Champions * Category:Northern Irish leagues Category:UEFA leagues